difference for the jets in a tight game with the dolphins? it's "way too early" for this. good morning, i'm willie geist, and this is a very special edition of "way too early" live from what's usually rockefeller plaza right outside our building at 30 rock. but this week has been transformed into learning plaza as we focus on education. i'm glad you're up with us this morning watching on msnbc or listening live on sirius xm radio. in 30 minutes we'll talk to education secretary arne duncan as well as new jersey governor chris christie and corey booker. they're working together to fix the schools in newark with a little help from facebook founder mark zuckerberg. in a few minutes you'll meet the founder and principle of the new york harbor school, a public school that takes kids from rugged brooklyn and puts them on a ferry to school every day. we'll show you what they're doing right there. if you're just getting up or

school or any other reason, shoot me an e-mail at waytooearly@- waytooearly@msnbc. we'll read the best responses as always later in the show. the next 30 minutes will be a cram session. a lot to tell you about today including one leading united states congressman calling stephen colbert's capitol hill testimony the other day an embarrassment. plus, new york governor david paterson confronts his "saturday night live" likeness face to face in the "snl" season premiere. what critique could the real paterson have for the phony one? 5:30 a.m. here in learning plaza in the heart of new york city. the white house and democratic leaders in congress are both acknowledging that a vote on the expiring bush tax cuts will likely not take place until after the midterm elections. house speaker nancy pelosi had

suggested a vote could be held this week before lawmakers leave town to campaign for the elections. but majority leader steny hoyer said he doubted congress would hold a vote because the legislation is stalled in the senate. regardless, both parties are using the delay as political ammunition before the midterms. on "meet the press" yesterday, mike pence and democrat chris van hollan argued whether tax cuts for the nation's highest earners would help create jobs. >> i think it would be unconscionable for this congress to adjourn without giving the bipartisan majority in the congress that wants to extend all current tax relief an up or down vote. even if they found some way to just extend middle-class tax relief would be an enormous tax increase in january on job creators in this country. you know, higher taxes won't get people hired. >> this notion that mike's talking about that you need tax breaks for the very top to create jobs and economic expansion, mike, those tax rates

are in effect right now. they're in effect right now. i don't see all this job creation as a result of those tax cuts. they've been in effect for nine years. at the end of those nine years, we've seen losses of millions of jobs. so this story that somehow those breaks for the folks at the top create these jobs is just nonsen. >> a good conversation but it might be a theoretical one. again, unlikely to have a vote before the midterm elections. they want congress to require companies like blackberry, facebook and skype to design their networks so fbi officials can monitor suspects if provided with a wiretap order. right now communications on those services are difficult to intercept because they're not routed through a central hub. the bill which the obama administration plans to submit to congress next year raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with the protection of privacy.

comedian stephen colbert testified on capitol hill on friday at a congressional hearing on immigration reform. he's getting some mixed reviews. colbert was invited to appear before the committee because he spent a day last month picking vegetables on a farm in upstate new york for his show. colbert's written statement which he submitted before the hearing appeared straightforward. but when it was his turn to speak on friday, the talk show host slipped into character. >> this is america. i don't want a tomato picked by a mexican. i want it picked by an american. then sliced by guatemalan and served by a venezuelan in a spa where a chilean gives me a brazilian. because my great grandfather did not travel across 4,000 miles of the atlantic ocean to see this country overrun by immigrants. he did it because he killed a man back in ireland. that's the rumor. i don't know if that's true. i'd like to have that stricken from the record. >> what did you think you were

going to get when you invited stephen colbert? house speaker nancy pelosi was later asked what she thought about colbert's appearance. >> do you think it was appropriate? >> of course it's appropriate. he's an american. the committee has a point of view. he can bring attention to an important issue like immigration. i think it's great. >> so nancy pelosi liked it. some others didn't so much including house majority leader steny hoyer. >> i think his testimony was not appropriate. no, i think it was an embarrassment for mr. colbert more than the house. >> and he should not have been called? >> i don't know about whether he was called, but what he had to say, i think, was not the way it should have been said. >> steny hoyer calling it an embarrassment. big story happening now, the future of middle east peace talks could be in jeopardy after israel's ten-month ban moratorium on settlement construction in the west bank

expired last night without a compromise. to celebrate the end of that moratorium, jewish settlers broke ground on a kindergarten. still, palestinian president mahmoud abbas said late yesterday that he would not immediately follow through on an earlier threat to quit negotiations if israel did not extend the building freeze. and yesterday israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called on settlers to show, quote, restraint and responsibility after the freeze expired at midnight. still ahead on "way too early," the yankees and red sox come down to the last pitch in extra innings. could the yanks avoid a costly sweep in the sunday night game? those highlights and the nfl are ahead. plus, taking the ferry to school. you'll meet the founder and the principal of a remarkable public high school here in new york that has kids from bushwick, brooklyn, building ships when they're not doing advanced algebra. that story and a check on weather when "way too early" comes right back. [ indistinct conversations ]

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live pictures of rockefeller plaza that's been transformed into learning plaza for nbc this week. i could probably give you a quick look at the weather right now based on what you're seeing here. but let's turn to bill karins anyway. bill, are you seeing what i'm seeing? misery? >> i am. you know what, willie? we have to appreciate the fact that you're here with us every day. i saw this right here. ms. bev roeskie. >> yes, in new jersey, she was the best. >> as far as the forecast goes out here, it is what it is for today and tomorrow. we get a lot better in the days ahead. we're going to continue to watch those temperatures be on the cool side with the rain.

a very gloomy pattern. we haven't had a pattern like this for a while. it's going to continue. very damp. thunderstorms that will mix in. it's not going to rain all the time, but for the next two days, on and off. education nation, we're there where the crosshairs are. just light showers and drizzle in and out. maybe heavier rain later today into tomorrow. look at the eastern seaboard. just soaked up and down the coast. that's the forecast. the rest of the country looks good. heat wave out west. this is the kind of shot i like with the lights coming off the building here at 30 rock. you're in the covered area. it's not too bad. just a little drizzle, right? >> it's blowing sideways, bill. let's not understate this. it's miserable. thanks so much. a quick hit of sports, give you some of the late stuff from last night. the jets taking on division rival dolphins in the sunday night game. wide receiver braylon edwards did not start the game, benched for one quarter as punishment because he was arrested this week for a dui. he made his presence felt in the third quarter. sanchez connects with edwards. a nice move to shed the defender. goes 67 yards on the sideline

for a touchdown. from perp walk to touchdown dance. there it is. jets up 21-17. end of the game, la takenian tomlinson punching it in from one yard out. jets with under two to play. but the dolphins would not go away without a fight. the ensuing drive, chad henny finds brandon marshall who jukes the defender. nice move. he goes down the sideline to the jets' 11 yard line. the jets make a stand in the end zone when they need it. on fourth and goal here for the dolphins. a chance to score. henny looking for tight end in triple coverage. jets pick off the pass. they win their second in a row, 31-23. they improve to 2-1 after that ugly first game. eagles taking on the jaguars. michael vick making his first start since being named starting quarterback by coach andy reid. he started last week for the injured kevin kolb. vick wasting no time proving he was the right choice, even though kolb is healthy throwing a bullet to desean jackson.

61 yards to the end zone for the score. he threw for three touchdown, ran for another eagles' win, 28-3. much more from the nfl coming up on "morning joe." baseball, yankees and red sox in the sunday nighter. top of the ninths, yanks up 2-1. to shut the door. no, bill hall, rbi single, goes under the glove of a-rod. red sox score to take a one-run lead. wow, they're about to sweep the yanks. bottom nine, robinson cano ties it at 3-3 are an rbi single. bottom ten, same score, tied up. bases loaded. 3-1 count. he walks in miranda for the game-winning run. boy, did the yankees need that. they avoid a sweep. they're now a half game behind the rays in the east. the rays lost yesterday. as we said, we're out here this morning on learning plaza as we at nbc have our eyes on education this week. there's so many remarkable success stories across the country. of people fighting to change the

failing system. we want to introduce you to one of those stories and to two of those people. murray fisher of the new york harbor school, a public high school that's transformed one district in brooklyn. nate dudley is the principal at the harbor school which just completed its move to governor's island. as you see on this map here, that is just south of us here in manhatt manhattan. guys, great to see you. >> great to be here. >> full disclosure, murray is a very old friend of mine. nate is a good friend of mine as well. only a good friend would get up at this hour in the rain. murray, let's start with the idea you had, god, almost a decade ago now. how did you come up with the idea for this school, and how did you start? how did you go about putting it in place? >> well, the harbor school is a maritime and environmental focus public high school. i was working after college, after vanderbilt for robert kennedy jr. at the river keeper and then afterwards at the water keeper alliance. my role is helping new water

keepers start. i found all over the country people were invigorated about protecting their local waterways, patrolling their waterways. these were former commercial fishermen around the country. i fell in love with the hudson river. what i was trying to do is get people connected to their waterways and give them real career pathways in those environmental and maritime careers. and so i took the idea of a maritime and environmental high school to a guy, richard khan, who done two schools before. and then we went and found nate. >> nate, how do you begin, though? because a lot of people aren't going to put bushwick, brooklyn, together with ship building. how did this yood take root for you? >> we always believe that we're a maritime high school. it just so happened that the place we were placed originally was bushwick. we were forced to find a waterfront location. governor's island is the perfect one, we believe. it's great to finally make that move out there.

i think you're testing us today because we say in the harbor school there's no such thing as bad weather, there's only bad clothing. i don't know if i'm completely layered up. at the same time, we've made it work from bushwick for seven years going out to the harbor, an hour in any direction and putting students and engaging them on the water building boats, sailing, rowing, swimming, doing scuba, laying oyster reefs. any way we can to engage students by using the resource of the harbor. >> tell people how this came about. why did they want to break up this school in bushwick, and were they receptive to the idea of a maritime school? i'm sure you got some funny looks. >> so we're part of the mayor's large-scale high school reform -- or public school reform effort. and one of the parts of that is to break up the lowest performing big public high schools and put in their place small theme-based schools. we're part of the urban assembly network which has 22 of these

schools all over the city in various former large campuses and in some new, small buildings like ours on governor's island. so we proposed this school. we knew we would be in one of three former schools, high schools, in brooklyn, either wingate or prospect heights or bushwick. when we were approved in april 2003, they said you're going to bushwick. i went and visited bushwick. we learned it was as far as you can get from the harbor in all of new york city. but it had a swimming pool. and so now for the last seven years, 85% of our kids have learned to swim. we have a robust scuba diving program. it's actually something we're looking to do on governor's island. now that we've moved, we don't have the swimming pool. we have access to the water. >> it's obviously not just scuba diving and looking for oysters, you have a core curriculum to meet. and you guys have made incredible progress in getting low-performing kids now, many of them off to college. talk about the progress you've made. >> well, one of the things that ties all of the urban assembly

schools together is that we're all college preparatory schools. and our students understand from the time they enter high school that they need to be thinking about what college they're going to go to. we believe that all students should be prepared to succeed in college. we're not where we want to be yet. however, we've had some tremendous successes. we have students about to graduate from cornell. we have students at middlebury, skidmore, some of the top performing, university of new york, albany, stoneybrook. our students are succeeding when getting into those four-year schools. we still have work to do in terms of students going to community college and some of the two-year programs here in the city. we get better results. all of the assembly schools track their students in where they're going to college. we want to know not just that they graduated from high school. that is a start. but we want to know they're graduating from clemg as well. that's our focus. >> murray, what do you say to the murray fisher ten yerz, a 25-year-old watching, what can i do? that seems like a big mountain

to climb to start my own high school. what do you say to those people? >> the lesson i've learned is having a good idea about a school does not necessarily make a good ideal. the implementation has been the most difficult part of it. starting it, we were part of a huge reform effort. we just jumped on that wave that was moving. and i happened to be able to bring this idea to the right people. the person ten years ago, i would say if you believe that you have a good concept, find the right people who will help you make it happen and commit to it. i believe that actually committing to do it is the most important part. doors open up after that. >> seeing how hard both of you guys have worked over the last seven, eight years, proud to call you both my trends. congratulations. great to see you. we should point out one of your students on the "today" show with hoda and cakathie lee tomorrow morning. if you live in new york and want to know more about the urban assembly new york harbor school, check out the documentary "classroom on the water" tonight

at 9:00 on nyc life tv, channel 2. or go see the school yourself during open house at governor's island this friday. catch the ferry down there to governor's from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00. >> 3:00 boat. >> be on it. guys, thanks so much. >> thanks so much. coming up at the top of the hour, the conversation continues with some heavy hitters led by education secretary arne duncan, plus new jersey governor chris christy and cory booker joins us fresh off the announcement of the $100 million donation to new york schools by facebook founder mark zuckerberg. when we come back, we'll huddle around the water schooler to watch another governor critique his own spoof. david paterson meets the real david paterson face to face when "way too early" comes right back. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

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back outside here at learning plaza right in front of our building at rockefeller center. you know, attracting and retaining good teachers is one of the first steps in creating a good school system. but one report shows significant numbers of teachers leave the

profession before their careers really ever get off the ground. if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends 33% of teachers leave during the first three years of their career. that's according to the center for education policy which also found that nearly half of all new teachers leave within the first five years. enough with the real news. we'll take a quick break to gather around the water cooler to check out the season premiere of "saturday night live" upstairs at this very building. and yes, david paterson, the man who has been mocked relentlessly by "snl" over the last couple of years played by fred armisen in a very unflattering way, it's fair to say. well, david paterson showed up to "snl" for the premiere face down. fred armisen. >> stop, stop, stop! say. i see you're still sporting the beard. >> yes, i am.

>> i shaved that off a year ago. are you bloind? >> touche. >> give david paterson credit. he was funny. also, the opening sketch, you knew they had to do it, you knew it was coming. christine o'donnell, a sketch written by the great jim downey. ms. o'donnell played by kristin wiig. >> in college i burned somebody's house down. >> arson? >> yes but not for money. for revenge. >> all right. christine, i'm going to stop you right here because this is getting into a tricky legal area. and we probably shouldn't be hearing this. >> oh, exactly. you know what? the people of delaware don't want to hear about it either. they want to hear about the future and taking back our country and restoring the founders' vision. things like that. >> you're right. you're right. thanks for coming in. >> thanks for having me. it's my pleasure.

good seeing you guys. >> good luck. >> thanks. >> the witchcraft thing. ms. o'donnell there in the sketch was visiting rnc headquarters where they tried to dig up and see, is there anything else we should know about before we move forward? she said yeah, i burned somebody's house down. why are you awake? your educational texts and e-mails are next. and a star-studded "morning joe" now just moments away. for those of us who have lactose intolerance,

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number one story now on msnbc.com, katy perry wears low-cut elmo top on "snl" playing off the big controversy of last week. we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing awake on this monday of education nation week here at nbc. on nbc. alex has some answers. what are they saying? >> the teachers are up this morning. chris says he's up tutoring one of his students who can't meet